Pages
by aptasi
Summary: One of the most dangerous things she had done in those days was fail to speak. Instead, she marked pages.


Summary: One of the most dangerous things she had done in those days was fail to speak. Instead, she marked pages.

Standard Disclaimer: I'm just a fanfiction writer. All hail the rightful owners.

Content Warning: Description of scenes of violence.

* * *

"What a strange child." The agent declared, watching the girl in the comically oversized uniform.

His companion snorted. "That child has solved more cases than both of us combined."

"By doing what? Just sitting there? Putting bookmarks in library books? Is that all she does?"

"Cut the kid some slack. Wouldn't you be nervous to work with us?"

"She had better not be nervous, if she's going to help us on the case. This is the big time. If Acme thinks she's tough enough to be on a murder case, better act like it."

"You want to take someone that brilliant and not stick them on a murder case?"

"I'm just saying."

* * *

_Michel Foucault is a French philosopher, author of several major works including __ History of Madness__ and __The Order of Things.__ Some of his best-known work is within philosophy of science, wherein he argues that science, psychology, social sciences etc. are better understood as reflective of the society that produces them than as absolute fact._

* * *

The photos were coldly taken, but dominated by gore. Carmen stared down at them, pushing one forward and then another, as though contemplating a deck of cards. This one was a blood splatter, with notes accompanying from the analyst. In this one a middle-aged man lay slumped, halfway to the door, staring at the camera lens.

"Do you see anything we missed? That's what you do right? You see stuff the rest of us miss?"

She didn't answer, eyes staring straight down, fixed on the pictures of the Hispanic couple and their death.

"Carmen?"

She jumped.

"What's your theory? Who's your suspect?"

* * *

_Since he first appeared in 1939, Batman has been one of the most analyzed comic book characters. Some topics include the heroization of vigilantism, Batman as a model of post-traumatic growth following the death of his parents, and categorization of the villains batman faces as either societal anxieties or aspects of his own troubled persona._

* * *

"You were wrong."

Carmen looked up.

"Your suspect didn't do it. We proved who did, and they confessed."

She flinched.

"I thought you were never wrong."

* * *

_The Grolier Fragment is a piece of a pre Columbian Mayan codex. If authentic, it is one of only four surviving Mayan documents from that time. Most were lost in purges intended to ensure the complete conversion of indigenous peoples to Christianity, the most famous of which took place on __July 12, 1562 when __Bishop Diego de Landa__ burned a number of Mayan codices, destroying a large amount of the cultural record._

* * *

"She is a child." Suhara declared. "You have to take that into account."

"This is homicide division." His opponent countered. "She has to do her job. Six murder cases we've put her on, and she hasn't said a useful thing yet!"

Shaking his head, her mentor declared. "You are being unreasonable."

"We're giving her space to shine." The agent declared. "And instead she's choking and freezing up."

The older man shook his head. "Child prodigies are odd." He stood up. "Many of us are odd. You do not know what she needs, and you haven't found out. Instead you let her sit for hours with those horrible photos, and the only ones to engage with her are the dead."

"Of course they were violent pictures. It's murder!"

Suhara swallowed and then stared forward with the strength of conviction. "As far as I am concerned, what you are doing is abuse."

"Fine then. You can have her back. She's no help to us anyway if she's too emotional to be objective."

* * *

_Bowen family systems theory studies human behavior with individuals viewed as part of an emotional system, particularly in times of change or stress. For example roles and themes tend to resonate through generations, even if individual family members are not aware of it. Furthermore triangles emerge, with a third entity being brought into brought into an unstable dyad to serve as a conduit for anxiety._

* * *

"I know you didn't ask me to intervene." Suhara said quietly.

Carmen didn't look at him.

"You're young Carmen. It doesn't have to be all at once. Murder cases matter, but they are not the only things that do."

Finally, the young woman answered. "Where's our case?"

"Alaska. What are you reading, by the way?"

"Nothing."

* * *

_The Mona Lisa, a portrait by __Leonardo da Vinci, is one of the most recognized pieces of art in the world. The painting has a storied history, including a famous theft in 1911 that is credited with some of the picture's fame. Although the Mona Lisa was eventually recovered, many uncertainties remain, including the identity of the woman pictured and the reason for her enigmatic smile. _

**The End**

* * *

Author's Note: This story is in answer to a long overdue challenge by redhatlady fan. The challenge was to write a story in which Carmen failed to do something that, by series convention, she should be able to do.


End file.
